Like this but with more Pandaren

Well, friends, Mists of Pandaria is upon us. The first thing I’ll be doing tomorrow is… going to work. Yeah, it sucks, but hey, I got the rest of the week off! After that, I’ll… be rolling and leveling my monk to 90. Luckily I have RAF active so with dualboxing and fully kitted-out heirlooms that hopefully won’t take a super long time. Then after that?

I’d be lying if I said the faction I was looking forward to playing with most wasn’t The Tillers. If you’ve not read a lot about them, Perculia has penned a fantastic Guide to the Tillers on Wowhead.

I know a lot of people want to immediately decry the Tillers and Sunsong Ranch as YOU GOT YOUR FARMVILLE IN MY WOW but, if you stop and look at it, there’s a bit more to it - and more than another resemblance to a different farming game. Let’s take a high-level look at the Tillers quests:

• You start your little quest not by being given a farm, but by being put in charge of a run-down farm owned by a deceased or otherwise missing relative. Granted, in this case, it’s Farmer Yoon’s grandfather. Initially, the rest of the village of Halfhill isn’t too wild about you; Yoon is mocked for his urban upbringing, for starters.
• You have a sort-of crisis: the Tillers initially don’t want Farmer Yoon farming on Sunsong Ranch because they’re convinced he can’t run a proper farm.
• You can make friends with each person in the village, each of whom has their own wants and needs, and become friends with them all (at which time they bring you stuff for your farm).
• The cycle of things to do runs on a daily basis. Yes, this is a daily hub.

A relative’s farm? A manufactured crisis? A bunch of unimpressed but at least friendly people I need to make friends with? This isn’t Farmville. This is Harvest Moon.

No wonder I liked the Tillers when I first found out about them!